Hi folks
Win 11 Enterprise / Pro for Workstations allows 4 Physical CPU's - (not cores or threads but actual physical CPU's).
Is the limit on W11 Pro still 2 physical CPU's.
OK this might be 95% good enough for domestic users but a few might have 4 physical CPU's - which would be good for running a whole slew of VM's etc on with passthru of native hardware to the VM's.
64GB (Waiting for warranty replacement of another 64GB for 128GB total)
Graphics Card(s)
No GPU - Built-in Intel Graphics
Sound Card
Integrated
Monitor(s) Displays
HP Envy 32
Screen Resolution
2560 x 1440
Hard Drives
1 x 1TB NVMe SSD
1 x 2TB NVMe SSD
1 x 4TB NVMe SSD
3 x 512GB 2.5" SSD
1 x 4TB 2.5" SSD
5 x 8TB Seagate Barracuda HDD
PSU
Corsair HX850i
Case
Corsair iCUE RGB 5000X mid tower case
Cooling
Noctua NF-S12A chromax.black.swap case fans (Qty. 7) & Home Computer Specifications, Configuration, and Usage Notes General Specifications ASUS Prime Z590-A motherboard, serial number M1M0KC222467ARP Intel Core i7-11700K CPU (11th Gen Rocket Lake / LGA 1200 Socket) 128GB Crucial Ballistix RGB DDR4 3200 MHz DRAM (4 x 32GB) Corsair iCUE RGB 5000X mid tower case Noctua NH-D15 chromax.black CPU cooler Noctua NF-S12A chromax.black.swap case fans (Qty. 7) & Corsair LL-120 RGB Fans (Qty. 3)
Keyboard
Corsair K70 Max RGB Magnetic Keyboard
Mouse
Logitech MX Master 3
Internet Speed
1Gb Up / 1 Gb Down
Browser
Edge
Antivirus
Windows Defender
Other Info
The five 8TB drives and three 512GB SSDs are part of a DrivePool using StableBit DrivePool software. The three SSDs are devoted purely to caching for the 8TB drives. All of the important data is stored in triplicate so that I can withstand simultaneous failure of 2 disks.
Networking: 2.5Gbps Ethernet and WiFi 6e
Operating System
Win11 Pro 23H2
Computer type
Laptop
Manufacturer/Model
Lenovo ThinkBook 13x Gen 2
CPU
Intel i7-1255U
Memory
16 GB
Graphics card(s)
Intel Iris Xe Graphics
Sound Card
Realtek® ALC3306-CG codec
Monitor(s) Displays
13.3-inch IPS Display
Screen Resolution
WQXGA (2560 x 1600)
Hard Drives
2 TB 4 x 4 NVMe SSD
PSU
USB-C / Thunderbolt 4 Power / Charging
Keyboard
Backlit, spill resistant keyboard
Mouse
Buttonless Glass Precision Touchpad
Internet Speed
1Gb Up / 1Gb Down
Browser
Edge
Antivirus
Windows Defender
Other Info
WiFi 6e / Bluetooth 5.1 / Facial Recognition / Fingerprint Sensor / ToF (Time of Flight) Human Presence Sensor
Samsung SSD 850 EVO 250GB SATA Device (250 GB, SATA-III)
Internet Speed
VDSL 50 Mbps
Browser
MICROSOFT EDGE
Antivirus
WINDOWS DEFENDER
Other Info
Legacy MBR installation, no TPM, no Secure Boot, no WDDM 2.0 graphics drivers, no SSE4.2, cannot get more unsupported ;) This is only my test laptop. I had installed Windows 11 here before upgrading my main PC. For my main PC I use everyday see my 2nd system specs.
Samsung SSD 850 EVO 250GB SATA Device (250 GB, SATA-III)
Internet Speed
VDSL 50 Mbps
Browser
MICROSOFT EDGE
Antivirus
WINDOWS DEFENDER
Other Info
Legacy MBR installation, no TPM, no Secure Boot, no WDDM 2.0 graphics drivers, no SSE4.2, cannot get more unsupported ;) This is only my test laptop. I had installed Windows 11 here before upgrading my main PC. For my main PC I use everyday see my 2nd system specs.
It's no longer common place for home users because you have multiple cores in the CPUs these days, but years ago I used to run dual Pentium Pro CPU systems at home.
64GB (Waiting for warranty replacement of another 64GB for 128GB total)
Graphics Card(s)
No GPU - Built-in Intel Graphics
Sound Card
Integrated
Monitor(s) Displays
HP Envy 32
Screen Resolution
2560 x 1440
Hard Drives
1 x 1TB NVMe SSD
1 x 2TB NVMe SSD
1 x 4TB NVMe SSD
3 x 512GB 2.5" SSD
1 x 4TB 2.5" SSD
5 x 8TB Seagate Barracuda HDD
PSU
Corsair HX850i
Case
Corsair iCUE RGB 5000X mid tower case
Cooling
Noctua NF-S12A chromax.black.swap case fans (Qty. 7) & Home Computer Specifications, Configuration, and Usage Notes General Specifications ASUS Prime Z590-A motherboard, serial number M1M0KC222467ARP Intel Core i7-11700K CPU (11th Gen Rocket Lake / LGA 1200 Socket) 128GB Crucial Ballistix RGB DDR4 3200 MHz DRAM (4 x 32GB) Corsair iCUE RGB 5000X mid tower case Noctua NH-D15 chromax.black CPU cooler Noctua NF-S12A chromax.black.swap case fans (Qty. 7) & Corsair LL-120 RGB Fans (Qty. 3)
Keyboard
Corsair K70 Max RGB Magnetic Keyboard
Mouse
Logitech MX Master 3
Internet Speed
1Gb Up / 1 Gb Down
Browser
Edge
Antivirus
Windows Defender
Other Info
The five 8TB drives and three 512GB SSDs are part of a DrivePool using StableBit DrivePool software. The three SSDs are devoted purely to caching for the 8TB drives. All of the important data is stored in triplicate so that I can withstand simultaneous failure of 2 disks.
Networking: 2.5Gbps Ethernet and WiFi 6e
Operating System
Win11 Pro 23H2
Computer type
Laptop
Manufacturer/Model
Lenovo ThinkBook 13x Gen 2
CPU
Intel i7-1255U
Memory
16 GB
Graphics card(s)
Intel Iris Xe Graphics
Sound Card
Realtek® ALC3306-CG codec
Monitor(s) Displays
13.3-inch IPS Display
Screen Resolution
WQXGA (2560 x 1600)
Hard Drives
2 TB 4 x 4 NVMe SSD
PSU
USB-C / Thunderbolt 4 Power / Charging
Keyboard
Backlit, spill resistant keyboard
Mouse
Buttonless Glass Precision Touchpad
Internet Speed
1Gb Up / 1Gb Down
Browser
Edge
Antivirus
Windows Defender
Other Info
WiFi 6e / Bluetooth 5.1 / Facial Recognition / Fingerprint Sensor / ToF (Time of Flight) Human Presence Sensor
Samsung SSD 850 EVO 250GB SATA Device (250 GB, SATA-III)
Internet Speed
VDSL 50 Mbps
Browser
MICROSOFT EDGE
Antivirus
WINDOWS DEFENDER
Other Info
Legacy MBR installation, no TPM, no Secure Boot, no WDDM 2.0 graphics drivers, no SSE4.2, cannot get more unsupported ;) This is only my test laptop. I had installed Windows 11 here before upgrading my main PC. For my main PC I use everyday see my 2nd system specs.
I wish I could recall prices, but yes, I was pushing the limits of where your typical home user was. At the time, I was specializing in Windows NT Clustering so I built some high-end machines with a bunch of SCSI disks shared between two systems so that I could perform clustering tests at home
64GB (Waiting for warranty replacement of another 64GB for 128GB total)
Graphics Card(s)
No GPU - Built-in Intel Graphics
Sound Card
Integrated
Monitor(s) Displays
HP Envy 32
Screen Resolution
2560 x 1440
Hard Drives
1 x 1TB NVMe SSD
1 x 2TB NVMe SSD
1 x 4TB NVMe SSD
3 x 512GB 2.5" SSD
1 x 4TB 2.5" SSD
5 x 8TB Seagate Barracuda HDD
PSU
Corsair HX850i
Case
Corsair iCUE RGB 5000X mid tower case
Cooling
Noctua NF-S12A chromax.black.swap case fans (Qty. 7) & Home Computer Specifications, Configuration, and Usage Notes General Specifications ASUS Prime Z590-A motherboard, serial number M1M0KC222467ARP Intel Core i7-11700K CPU (11th Gen Rocket Lake / LGA 1200 Socket) 128GB Crucial Ballistix RGB DDR4 3200 MHz DRAM (4 x 32GB) Corsair iCUE RGB 5000X mid tower case Noctua NH-D15 chromax.black CPU cooler Noctua NF-S12A chromax.black.swap case fans (Qty. 7) & Corsair LL-120 RGB Fans (Qty. 3)
Keyboard
Corsair K70 Max RGB Magnetic Keyboard
Mouse
Logitech MX Master 3
Internet Speed
1Gb Up / 1 Gb Down
Browser
Edge
Antivirus
Windows Defender
Other Info
The five 8TB drives and three 512GB SSDs are part of a DrivePool using StableBit DrivePool software. The three SSDs are devoted purely to caching for the 8TB drives. All of the important data is stored in triplicate so that I can withstand simultaneous failure of 2 disks.
Networking: 2.5Gbps Ethernet and WiFi 6e
Operating System
Win11 Pro 23H2
Computer type
Laptop
Manufacturer/Model
Lenovo ThinkBook 13x Gen 2
CPU
Intel i7-1255U
Memory
16 GB
Graphics card(s)
Intel Iris Xe Graphics
Sound Card
Realtek® ALC3306-CG codec
Monitor(s) Displays
13.3-inch IPS Display
Screen Resolution
WQXGA (2560 x 1600)
Hard Drives
2 TB 4 x 4 NVMe SSD
PSU
USB-C / Thunderbolt 4 Power / Charging
Keyboard
Backlit, spill resistant keyboard
Mouse
Buttonless Glass Precision Touchpad
Internet Speed
1Gb Up / 1Gb Down
Browser
Edge
Antivirus
Windows Defender
Other Info
WiFi 6e / Bluetooth 5.1 / Facial Recognition / Fingerprint Sensor / ToF (Time of Flight) Human Presence Sensor
Back before multi-core CPUs it was common for professional workstations and servers to have more than one physical CPU. Back in 1997 I help set up Dell PowerEdge servers for a government contract. Each server had either 2 or 4 Slot One Xeon CPUs. I don't remember how expensive they were but Dell charged us about $1000 to replace a motherboard. We used rack mounted servers because that was the only way for us to get 4 physical CPUs. About 5 years later CPUs were fast enough we started using professional workstations with 2 Xeon CPUs.
BTW, we had one Dell rack mounted server with 8 physical Xeon Slot One CPUs. Someone told me it cost $100,000.
ASUS Blu-ray Burner BW-16D1HT (SATA) || Western Digital Easystore 20TB USB 3.0 external hard drive used with Acronis True Image 2025 backup software || HP OfficeJet Pro 6975 Printer/Scanner
Thanks everybody for replying. We all learn things every day no matter how old we are !!.
The problem with multi-cores vs physical CPU's is that pass thru for VM's isn't exactly the same.
Mind you if you have too many multi processors / CPU's then the overhead of the main host OS in managing them becomes significant - obviously you need other bits on a mobo such as multi-channel DDR RAM etc but you get the idea of what I'm looking at.
Our ten year old computer is still powerful enough for almost anything except gaming of course and 4K video editing. So it would be foolish to replace it just to run Windows 11. We just bypass compatibility check and we are good to go.
Remember everyone replacing their GPU or the whole computer just to run Vista? Some months later it was revealed it wasn't necessary as Vista 32-bit could work with the Windows XP graphics drivers, aka XPDM mode. Don't do the same mistake again. Think twice before you replace your old PC.
Samsung SSD 850 EVO 250GB SATA Device (250 GB, SATA-III)
Internet Speed
VDSL 50 Mbps
Browser
MICROSOFT EDGE
Antivirus
WINDOWS DEFENDER
Other Info
Legacy MBR installation, no TPM, no Secure Boot, no WDDM 2.0 graphics drivers, no SSE4.2, cannot get more unsupported ;) This is only my test laptop. I had installed Windows 11 here before upgrading my main PC. For my main PC I use everyday see my 2nd system specs.
